


you clicked your heels and wished for me

by fair-gayme (quinnthequeer)



Category: RWBY
Genre: Depressed Qrow, Kissing and hugging, Lucky Charms, M/M, angst and depression at beginning, blink and theyre gone yang and ruby, concerned ironwood, fair game, fair game reunion, fluff and feels by the end, ironwood is a good friend to qrow, qrow branwen x clover ebi, this starts off with one really depressed bird but he ends up happy i promise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-11
Updated: 2020-01-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:27:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22205617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quinnthequeer/pseuds/fair-gayme
Summary: Clover has been out on a mission for two months and the sadness is hitting Qrow hard. Ironwood tries to help him, but there's only so much his friend can do. How could a mission possibly help Qrow feel better when he's been sick missing his love?
Relationships: Qrow Branwen/Clover Ebi
Comments: 9
Kudos: 154





	you clicked your heels and wished for me

The sun had already reached its peak in the sky and Qrow had still not started his day. He laid in his bed while staring at the ceiling.

His bed. He had forced himself to stop thinking of it as their bed because the reminder that he had to sleep there alone hurt too much. Clover hadn’t and wouldn’t be sleeping there for a while so it was only Qrow’s bed for the time being. Changing the word was at least one thing he could control, unlike the cold half of the bed, the clothes folded and undisturbed in half of the dresser, and the lonely silence that hung over their shared apartment at the academy.

Qrow’s mind turned to all the things the kids and Ironwood needed him to do that he had been putting off. It was like all of the energy had been sucked out of him lately. Today was the worst of it. Even though Qrow knew he needed to get out of bed, he just couldn’t bring himself to do so.

The past two months had been far harder than he had expected. Ironwood had sent Clover out on a mission that would take Clover out of scroll signal range for almost half a year. Sure, Clover managed to get out the rare and brief call when he could, but those moments of bliss just weren’t enough to fill the void in Qrow’s life that Clover had filled.

It was a dangerous path to start thinking about Clover. Qrow knew this, but he could never stop himself when the memories started replaying. What it was like to feel Clover wrap his arms around him. How it felt falling asleep and waking up next to Clover ever single day. All of the little luck jokes that had so easily flowed off both their lips. The knowing and loving glances during meetings and missions. Nights spent staying awake hugging, talking, and kissing for hours. 

Kisses. Hugs. Cuddling. Qrow could almost feel the phantom imprints of Clover on his skin. It wasn’t like his partner was dead, he knew, but Clover’s absence hurt so much Qrow could practically feel it throughout his entire body.

Qrow rolled over in bed and made a half-hearted attempt at grabbing his scroll. His hand missed the nightstand and just swung limply down, hitting the side of the bed before falling still. Qrow made no effort to stop or change any of it.

Several minutes passed before Qrow forced himself to sit up and actually get his scroll. He mentally chided himself for acting so pathetic. It had only been two months, he wasn’t even half-way done with all this yet. There was no reason for him to be this mopey and out of sorts. Besides, how many months had he survived on his own before meeting Clover? Plenty.

But none of them had been as good as the ones he had with Clover.

He checked his scroll. Nothing from Clover, as he could have predicted. But just because he hadn’t really been expecting a message didn’t mean he was any less disappointed.

Almost as if he shut his mind off, Qrow pushed himself through the motions of his morning routine. He had made it down to the kitchen and was forcing some toast down when his scroll lit up.

A message from Yang. “U ok uncle qrow? Didnt see u at training this morning.”

Qrow sighed as he set his phone down. How was he going to explain this one to the kids? He felt like they deserved someone who was better than whatever the hell he was right now. At least he wasn’t drunk. After putting his dish in the sink, he went to take a shower.

Over an hour later, he was still showering. The water had long ago grown cold but he didn’t care.

His scroll buzzing drew Qrow out of his haze and out of the shower. Ironwood’s name was showing on the scroll. Shivering and wrapped in a towel, Qrow answered the call.

“Yeah?”

“What do you mean, ‘yeah’? Where are you? Your kids are coming to me they’re so concerned.”

Qrow sat down on the edge of the bathtub. “Needed a sick day. Suppose I should have told someone.” 

“That would have been the logical thing to do.”

“Sorry.”

The line was quiet. Qrow thought he heard Ironwood sigh.

“Are you okay, Qrow?”

“Yeah, just sick.”

“You’ve been seeming off lately.”

“I guess.”

Another pause. “I’ll let you rest. Let me know if you need anything. Even if it’s just to talk. I’m still here as your friend you know.”

This time it was Qrow who paused. “Thanks, James. I’m fine though, really.”

“Try telling Ruby that. But rest up, feel better, and we’ll get you back out on missions then.”

“Mmph.” Qrow hung up the phone and let it drop onto the shower mat. He knew he should be more grateful for Ironwood’s understanding, but that phone call left him feeling more drained than it seemed like any fight ever had. 

Later that evening, Yang and Ruby stopped by with some dinner and well wishes. Qrow tried to talk to them for a while, but he could tell both of them knew he didn’t feel like talking. They both left with promises of seeing how he was doing the next day.

The next several days ended up turning into a pattern of Qrow doing the bare minimum to survive as a human and the girls stopping by for a few minutes at a time, bringing snacks, random medicine, or hugs.

Even if it was exhausting being around them for even those short bits, Qrow was still thankful that they kept showing up. Part of him wished they would just forget about him, but another was glad that they still cared. 

Qrow had lost count of his sick days when he got another call from Ironwood.

“Feeling any better?”

“Nope.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. But I think you should still come up to my office this afternoon.”

“Do I have to?”

“I really think you should.”

“What would you do if I didn’t?” Qrow had absolutely no desire to leave his home nest.

“As general and also your friend, I am telling you to come to my office after lunch.”

Qrow sighed dramatically and kicked at the floor. “Fine. I’ll be there.”

Ironwood’s voice was softer. “Thank you, Qrow. I’ll see you then.”

Grumbling incoherently, Qrow forced himself to get ready. He still had a few hours, but he knew he was going to be moving at a snail’s pace. Eventually, he got himself dressed and managed to eat at least a small (and very late) breakfast.

As he left his front door, Qrow squinted his eyes against the bright light. He wasn’t even going outside, the hallway was just so much brighter than his home that it hurt his eyes. He took a few seconds to adjust before starting to slink his way through the hallways to Ironwood’s office.

With a few strategic pauses and corner turns, Qrow was able to avoid talking to anybody on his way there. He even managed to be a few minutes early. Not even bothering to knock, he walked right in.

Ironwood was sitting at his desk with Winter standing off behind him. Looking up, Ironwood said, “I’m glad you actually made it. Why don’t you grab a seat while I finish up this last bit of paperwork.”

Qrow tried to say sure but only some indistinct sound vaguely resembling a word came out. He walked over to the nearest chair and ungracefully plopped himself into it before sprawling out. Since he wanted to avoid any interactions with Winter, he made sure to keep his eyes down.

After a few minutes, Qrow heard papers rustling and a chair scraping against the ground.

“Winter, if you’ll excuse us.” 

Qrow looked up as Winter walked by.

“Feel better soon,” she said. She paused just long enough that Qrow could start registering how uncharacteristically nice she was being before she continued. “Just don’t give me the bird flu.”

“Hah. Great.”

Winter half-rolled her eyes before she left Ironwood’s office. Ironwood walked over to Qrow and sat down next to him.

“Rough week?”

“Apparently.”

“I have something to cheer you up.”

“I don’t need cheering up.”

“Come on, I’ve got a mission for you.”

“I don’t want to go on a damned mission right now.”

“I’m making you.”

“I don’t have harbinger.”

“You don’t need it.”

Qrow stared at the general, hoping the other man would break and give in. The last thing Qrow wanted to do was some dumb mission right now. He just wanted to go back to his bed and binge watch some more of “Vale’s Most Eligible Huntsmen.” Sure it was trashy, but blissfully mind-numbingly so. 

James stood up, grabbed Qrow, and pulled him to his feet. Qrow tried to look indignant but Ironwood was already pulling him towards the doors. “We’re going to the hangar bay. I can either drag you there and make a scene, or you can walk next to me like an adult.”

Pulling his arm away from James, Qrow started slowly walking as he tried to fruitlessly smooth out the wrinkles on his shirt. But the wrinkles from sitting in a pile for two weeks weren’t going to come out with a couple of passes of his hands, and neither were his frustrations. It seemed like this was just yet another thing he was going to have to deal with.

Qrow dragged his feet the entire way to the hangar. Ironwood rambled on about updates to the kids’ various missions and happenings around the academy, but Qrow was barely listening. As in, Qrow felt like he existed on a separate realm from the rest of the academy and was only somewhat aware of Ironwood talking and his own body walking.

What a mess he had let himself become, he realized. He tried to shake his head to shake away the feeling. It helped somewhat, but he really just wanted to go back to sleep. 

It seemed like it took an eternity, but they reached the hangar bay. There were a few pilots and teams milling about loading and unloading planes, but it was relatively quiet. Qrow didn’t see any of the kids or the ace ops so he wasn’t sure who he was going on this mission with.

“Just follow me,” Ironwood said as he guided Qrow over to one of the smaller planes. “Everything should be set to go once you’re in there. The plane will take you down to Mantle where you will connect with the transport driver.”

“You’re not actually sending me out on a mission, are you?”

“What did you think I was going to do?”

“I don’t know James, go get food or something? Not shove me on a plane with no information on what the hell I’m doing.”

“I’ll be sending more information to your scroll soon. For now, just load up and enjoy the ride. The view of the tundra is beautiful this time of the year.”

“It’s just snowy like it always is,” Qrow grumbled as Ironwood put a hand on his shoulder to guide him onto the plane. He was practically pushed the last couple of feet.

Qrow stumbled into the empty plane and turned around to the doors closing.

Why did this feel more like some kind of deranged kidnapping than a mission?

He paced around a bit as the engines rumbled to life. The ground lurched a bit as Qrow felt the plane start rolling forward. Pulling out his scroll, he saw there were no messages. Typical. Qrow resigned himself to whatever misery Ironwood had planned for him and went to sit down for the flight.

Qrow reached up and absentmindedly grabbed the locket Clover had given him before leaving. It was a small black oval-shaped necklace with a silver cross on the front. Clover always seemed to have the best attention to the little things when it came to special gifts. Inside the locket wasn’t a picture of Clover but rather a small preserved four-leaf clover. Qrow could feel the imprint of the locket in his hand as he realized how tightly he was holding it. He wondered what Clover was doing right then and if he was thinking of Qrow too.

It turned out time passed just about as quickly staring mindlessly at a wall in a plane as it does in one’s bedroom. Soon enough Qrow could tell the plane was starting landing procedures. He was dreading the flight ending and figuring out what the hell he had to do next.

Qrow didn’t even bother opening up the window to look out and see where they had landed. He waited until the plane rolled to a stop, turned off the engines, and rolled the door down. With a sigh and a grimace, Qrow pushed himself up out of his seat and made his way out the plane.

He strongly considered ditching whatever the hell mission this was and finding a bar in mantle.

He really knew he shouldn’t do that.

Knowing the outcome of wandering off into Mantle on his own right now was probably worse than whatever Ironwood had set up for him, Qrow looked around the smaller warehouse hangar bay they had landed in. A transport vehicle was rolling in the front doors. Checking his scroll, he saw there was still no message from Ironwood. Qrow found a crate to go sit down on while he waited for brothers knew what.

The transport slowly rolled up to where Qrow was sitting. He watched with little interest as it turned around to park, back doors facing him. The two back doors swung open. Suddenly Qrow thought he was hallucinating. 

Clover. He thought he saw Clover standing right there. But that just couldn’t be possible. He knew he must have just completely lost it. 

Qrow rubbed his eyes and looked up again. Clover was walking out of the back of the transport, arms spread wide and a cocky grin on his face. With his knees trembling while he stood up, Qrow couldn’t believe the mirage of his love hadn’t disappeared. 

“Aren’t you going to come give me a hug?” Clover shouted to Qrow. “Or did you just forget all about me while I was gone?”

“If you’re actually here,” Qrow replied, hardly believing what was happening. The world had stopped feeling real once again but this time for a much better reason.

“Where else would I be?”

Qrow didn’t want to waste another single second apart. Shifting into his crow form, he flew faster than he could ever remember until he was about to run into Clover. He changed back to normal just in time for Clover to catch him (even though he nearly stumbled backward into the transport during the process).

Although he knew they looked ridiculous, Qrow didn’t care in the slightest. He threw his arms around Clover’s neck, relishing the feeling of Clover’s strong arms supporting him under his legs and back.

Managing to get a few words out between kisses, Qrow said into Clover’s neck, “If you tell me you’re leaving again, I’m going with you.”

Qrow nearly died of gay happiness at the feeling of the laugh rumbling in Clover’s chest. “I was able to finish everything early. I’m home-home.”

Tears started leaking from the corner of Qrow’s eyes. “I won’t be able to take it if this is all a joke.”

Clover set Qrow down and enveloped him in a proper hug. “I could never do that to you.”

Had he had the room to move, Qrow would have returned the hug equally as tightly. But since he was thoroughly (and quite happily) trapped, Qrow settled for focusing on feeling Clover’s heartbeat and breathing in his comforting scent of citrus and cedarwood. 

“This feels like a dream,” he mumbled into Clover’s chest.

“Trust me, I feel the same way my love bird.”

After a minute of hugging, Clover gradually reduced his death grip on Qrow.

“Want to go get on that plane and head home?”

Qrow nodded as he reluctantly separated from Clover.

“Wait, does this mean Ironwood really flew me down here just to meet you?”

Clover smiled and winked. “You can thank me for that. I talked him into letting me set up this surprise for you.”

Resisting the urge to dive back in for another hug, Qrow took Clover’s hand instead. “This is a better surprise than anything I could have hoped for. But I would have just been thankful to have you home.”

“I know,” Clover said as he pulled Qrow’s head over for a kiss. Qrow let himself melt into Clover for a moment, savoring the feeling of their lips slowly brushing over each other. He was disappointed when Clover turned away, but his partner continued talking. “But you deserve to be as happy as possible. Ironwood said you were having a hard time lately.”

“This may or may not be my first mission in a couple of weeks,” Qrow said sheepishly as they headed over to the plane. “I’ve been feeling a little out of sorts.”

“Well I have a new mission directive for you,” Clover said, bumping his hip into Qrow’s as they walked.

“And what would that be, Captain Ebi?”

“You are to sit in my lap and kiss me the entire plane ride home.”

“I’ll take those orders with pleasure.”

“That’s what I thought.” Clover winked and Qrow fell in love again for the thousandth time.

Qrow checked his scroll as the got onto the plane and the doors closed up. He had one message from Ironwood.

“Forgive the deception, but I hope you’re okay with the mission outcome. There’s no need for either of you two to check in when you get back, but I’ll see you two for the mission briefing after your last day off tomorrow.”

“Looks like we’ll be able to do whatever we want all day tomorrow,” Qrow told Clover as he reached out and brushed a finger against Clover’s charm before grabbing the vest lapels. “Lucky us.”

“Lucky us indeed,” Clover said, taking the locket off Qrow’s chest and giving it a kiss. “I have a couple of ideas on how to spend it.”

“And I have a couple of ideas about how we can spend this plane ride.” Qrow pulled Clover in for a deep kiss.

Qrow leaned in as Clover wrapped his arms around him. “I’ll do whatever you want me to as long as I get to be next to you,” Clover said.

“Good. Because there isn’t any other place I’d let you be right now.”

Qrow smiled, feeling happy for the first time in weeks now that his love was home and in his arms. He let himself savor the sight of Clover in front of him before pulling Clover back in with the intention of never letting go.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading this self-indulgent fic haha :)
> 
> I got partway through writing the next chapter for my ongoing fic, but was feeling a bit too depressed to work on that one. I ended up working on this for most of the day instead to get some feels out of my system lol
> 
> (yes this is 100% a projection of my current situation and yes I 100% had to give qrow and clover a happy gay fair game ending) (also yes the title is a northern downpour lyric because that song gives me feels)
> 
> I'll be finishing up the next chapter for the qrow multiship fic soon :)  
> Until then, #FairGameRights


End file.
